Islam is built on human works; Christianity is built of God's works.

Remember that Muslims profess to believe all the words that Jesus spoke, those that are marked red in red-letter editions of the Bible. Here are some of those words of Jesus: John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 14:6 Jesus saith to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.

Yet Islam does not accept Jesus as Savior. There are Muslims who have come to accept Jesus as their Savior and only Lord God, but they are few. Many have found Jesus because Jesus miraculously came to them and spoke to them in the quite times of their prayers. Jesus revealed Himself to them, just as He does to every Christian, but not through another Christian. God speaks to every humble and sincere heart. Mostly, He speaks by the word of one who is following Him and through the Bible. He also speaks in other ways, though. (some caveats about hearing God's Voice)

The words above say "believeth on Him" but the literal meaning is "believe into Him." Believing into Him is a process. Christ is a Head in Heaven. Christ is a Body on Earth. The Scripture says, "As the Body is one and has many members (speaking of the physical human body) so also is Christ. Christ is a Body as well as a Head. If we can discern the Body of Christ, then we are seeing Him as He really is and so we begin to become like Him from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I hope that all the followers of Christ realize these simple truths. To believe into Him, we must first be born into His Kingdom by believing that He is God and that He came to save us from our sins by dying in our place on the cross and bearing our sins. We receive that because God utters His voice to us and tells us about it. Islam does not receive these things from God. Then, we believe into Him by receiving His moment-by-moment gentle leading, which gives us access to the free gift (grace) of His righteousness, which He then does through us. Righteousness is a gift from God because sinful mankind is not capable of it. In fact, human-generated righteousness is always filthy rags. As He does His righteousness, He plants holy seeds in us that causes the fruit of the Spirit to spring forth. We are changed in our very natures from glory to glory. Our natural mind dies and the mind of Christ comes alive in us and grows toward fullness. We begin to become the ministry in Christ's Body that He created us to be. This is what it means to believe into Him.

What follows is a list of some of the differences between the teaching of Christ and the teachings of Islam. None of these differences indicate that Christians are any better than Muslims. Christians are just people who have been born again and stand in a different position.

Islam's salvation is by human-generated righteousness; Christianity's righteousness is by God's salvation from wickedness and sin to God's righteousness flowing through each person who has been saved.

Islam's good works are through human effort; Christianity's good works are by paying attention to God and yielding to His Spirit.

The God of the Bible is personal and loving Father.

The God of the Bible is the Trinity, while Islam doesn't follow the Three-In-One God of the Bible.

The Koran abrogates passages. The Scripture cannot be broken.

Christianity is not coercive.

Christianity accepts persecution. In fact, every Christian should expect persecution right up until the end of this present evil age.

Islam's goal is to rule the world through the sword or any means necessary, but Christ will establish His Kingdom through His Light shining through a people who have dedicated their lives to Him and entered into their places of service as manifested sons of God.

Both the Koran and the Bible are used to confuse through invalid logic and out of context quotes. The Bible warns against this practice.

The attitude toward violence in the Bible is totally different from the Koran.

There is a huge difference between Islam and Christianity despite the misinformation that ungodly counselors of this present evil age continually spew forth.

A friend of mine said that he was converting to Islam from following Christ because, in his words, Islam and Christianity are basically the same. Islam and Christianity are, however, not in any way the same. Ask any Muslim, and they will tell you that it is a big step for a Muslim to convert to Christianity. In Muslim countries, they kill you if you convert to Christianity. For a Christian to convert to Muslim, they leave the grace of God and reject the salvation that is freely given in Christ Jesus. All who reject Christ are condemned by God. Christians won't attack them-they'll pray for them and try to convince them of their error. In Muslim countries, it is considered OK to kill a Christian who prays for them and tries to convince them of their error. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.

Islam and Christianity are as opposite as Christianity and New Age, Christianity and Liberalism, or Christianity and Atheism.

Islam is built on human works; Christianity is built of God's works.

Islam is built on the works of human beings, trying to please God by obeying a list of laws.

Christianity is built on Jesus Christ and the work that He did to deliver us from sin so that we fulfill can the law. The only way that we can fulfill the law is by the power of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells within Christians. God must do the work. It is God's free gift of righteousness within the Christian that does the work.

Islam's salvation is by human righteousness; Christianity's righteousness is by God's salvation.

For Islam, salvation is by the Muslim's own righteousness (ability to fulfill the Muslim law).

For Christianity, righteousness (the ability to fulfill the law) is a free gift from God, part of the salvation that has been freely given by God through Jesus Christ, but only if we will accept it. It is a change that takes place at salvation. Genuine righteousness and holiness is a gift from God that is given to those who are humble enough to admit that they need God. Those who reject Christ do so because they want to continue as they were, unchanged.

Islam's good works are through human effort; Christianity's good works are by yielding to the Spirit.

Islam seeks to do good works through human effort.

Christians seek to yield to the Holy Spirit to such a degree that the Holy Spirit begins to do His works through the Christian.

The God of the Bible is personal and loving Father.

The God of Christianity is the personal and loving Father and wants a relationship with you and me, while Islam has no such concept.

The God of the Bible is the Trinity, while Islam doesn't follow the Three-In-One God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, while Islam has no such concept.

Link to trinity Bible study

The Koran abrogates passages.

The Koran abrogates certain passages of the Koran when they are in conflict with other passages of the Koran. "Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it." Sura 2:106

When the Koran abrogates a passage, that passage remains in the Koran, and is sometimes quoted in a way to deceive those who are not aware of the dogma of abrogation.

The Bible has a New Testament that fulfills the Old Testament. Many of those things that were brought in type and shadow in the Old Testament are revealed and fulfilled in the New Testament. Those things that are moral import remain. Salvation is given for forgiveness for breaking the law and to free and empower Christians to fulfill the law. When the Bible appears to conflict with itself, it is always an example of raw human reasoning (the reasoning of the human mind without the Intelligence of the Creator flowing through the human mind) plus the Bible that causes the supposed conflict. Take out the faulty raw human reasoning (the reasoning of the human mind without the Intelligence of the Creator flowing through the human mind), and there is no conflict. "The Scripture cannot be broken." John 10:35

The Bible does not abrogate passages.

Christianity is not coercive.

Biblical Christianity is not to use coercion. It should be noted that, under the Holy Roman Empire, some non-biblical religionists used coercion against those who were having an actual relationship with Christ. This coercion of the unsaved against the saved was called the Inquisition. Often, anti-Christ forces will attack Christians by twisting this bit of history to falsely make it seem as if the followers of Christ were using coercion, but just the opposite is the case. If someone were following Christ, that person could not use coercion or else that person would have stopped following Christ.

Though the Koran says things like, "There is no compulsion in religion" those passages have been abrogated by passages such as Sura 8:12 that say, "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." There are many such "sword" verses that abrogate the older, abrogated, peace verses.

In fairness to Islam, many clerics teach that those who are killing innocent people, the terrorists, are actually going to go to hell rather than to heaven as they imagine. These clerics teach that it is not just to kill at random or even to kill a Christian without first giving the Christian a chance to deny Christ and join Islam.

Christianity accepts persecution.

Mature Christians accept that fact that they may have to die for their faith. Christians are to be gentle as doves, speaking the truth in love.

Even if a Christian is part of the police force or the armed forces, there is no place for anger in the work-any more than there is a place for anger in the responsibility given to a parent. The anger of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Islam's goal is to rule the world, but Christ will establish His Kingdom

Islam has a mandate to rule the world, by force if necessary.

Christianity has a promise of Christ Coming and ruling the world through His saints after His saints have been perfected. Christians have no mandate to try to take over or to try, by human effort, to be perfect. Another word for perfection is maturity. They have a mandate to spread the word: "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." They have a mandate to accept persecution for believing in Christ and for telling others about Christ.

Both the Koran and the Bible are used to confuse through false logic and out of context quotes.

A verse that is often partially quoted is Sura 5:32, "On this account [Cain's crime], we decreed to the Children of Israel that if anyone kills a person-unless in retribution for murder or spreading corruption in the land-it is as if he kills all mankind, while if any saves a life it is as if he saves the lives of all mankind." Of course, in context of the Muslim belief system, all Christians who testify of their faith are guilty of "spread[ing] corruption in the land" since the doctrines of Christ and of the Bible are considered corrupt from the viewpoint of Islam. And so, Sura 5:32 is quoted only in part, giving a false impression of peace: "Whoever killed a person it is as if he killed all mankind, and whoever saved a life it is as if he saved all mankind."

Partial quotes of the Bible exist also, and the purpose is to make it difficult to know what the Bible teaches. Ephesians 4:11-13 says, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:" I have heard this quoted as, "And He gave some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." What's missing? Another time, I heard this quoted as, "And He gave some pastor/teachers." Also, some have spoken of righteous anger as if it were Biblical, but the only Biblical righteous anger is the anger that God has-never human anger. Often, partial quotes or misquotes are given to limit God's involvement in our lives, to limit the power of the Holy Spirit, to deny miracles for today, to deny the gifts of the Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to promote organizations and false doctrines, and many other things. So misquotes (adding to, and taking from the texts) exist not only among the Muslims and also among the Christians. It's my belief that all such deception is the work of the enemy of our souls. Lord, help us all to discern between the Truth and the lies.

In understanding Ephesians 4:12-16, you must go back to the main verb, edoken, in verse 11. Christ gave the gifts. He gave the office of apostle. He gave the four ministries. Those gifts are not the persons but the Christ in those persons, as another passage says, "Christ in us, the hope of glory." The text cannot be read any other way than to understand that these gifts are performing all of this work as the gifts proceed from Christ. Grace means, literally, free gift. This is grace, and we know from Scripture that it is grace that does any work that is done. In fact, God could give no greater gift, so He gave us of Himself. He chooses to do it through apostles, ones sent. He chooses to not use those who send themselves or who are sent by men. It is plain from the Greek that it is not gifted people who do any of this work, but rather the Gift Himself does the work through the members. This is true whether it is the apostle who is totally equipping and completing the member or the member who is now also moving in the power and authority of the same gift. When any member comes into submission to the apostle, that person carries the same anointing and authority of the apostle just as long and to the extent that they are in submission. They are not submitting to a man but to Christ Himself. If you can discern the Body of Christ, you will see this. If you see this, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but your Father in Heaven has revealed it.

You can go many places on the internet, on Christian radio, or in the religious world where you will find people twisting this Scripture. They will twist "apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" into "teacher/pastors" or some other misquote. The Bible says what it says. The Scripture cannot be broken. Satan hates the Bible and he hates God's church and the orders of God's church. If you see someone twisting Scripture in this way, run, do not walk, away.

The attitude toward violence in the Bible is totally different from the Koran.

In Christianity, violence, malice, or anger toward unbelievers is a sign of immaturity. If we tell others about Jesus and suffer for doing so, this is considered a sign of maturity. We are to keep speaking the truth in love, warning of the dangers of continuing in evil and the dangers of rejecting salvation, encouraging toward righteousness, and we are to have no anger or malice when we are rejected. These are signs of maturity for the Christian.